Small Business UnMarketing

Santa Clarita Dentist David Goldberg

David Goldberg is a dentist in Santa Clarita, California. He enjoys working with children but is not a children's dentist. He wants to market himself to his ideal clients. He has been a dentist in Santa Clarita for over 20 years now but is still  not well known. Over the next few weeks I will show him how to move from having no presence at all on the Internet to being in the top ten listings in the major search engines.

WIIFM and Other Ideas

When working with your ideal client remember that the most important thing to them is WIIFM (what's in it for me). It's not about you t all. Yes, they need to know who you are and what you do, but after that it is all about them and their needs. Listen to them. Let them tell their story. People will tell you what they want and you can offer them what you do in a way that fits their needs. If someone needs transportation that can look like many things: public transportation, a bicycle, a car. Within each of those choices are further choices. Find out what your client needs and then find out how they would like that product or service delivered to them to fit their specific needs.

Building Your List

"The gold is in the list" is a familar saying in small business. This means that you must build your list of prospective clients as early as possible in your business. Give people an incentive for giving you their contact information. Your newsletter or a free report can be a great way to introduce yourself to new prospects. Be sure to get both email and physical addresses so that you can market to them both online and off. And make sure they know that you will be sending them information and offers so you are not guilty of spamming. Although many of these people will not be your ideal clients they will at least interested in what you have to offer. Be sure to ask them what products and services they would be interested in receiving from your company.

Online and Offline Marketing

More and more I am seeing that businesses are finally starting to get it - you must market to your ideal client both online and off. If someone signs up for your newsletter through your website, send them a postcard. If you do work for them in person, ask them if you may send them your online newsletter to let them know what is new in your field. Online, offline - get it? People respond to different types of stimuli so mix it up for them.

More on your ideal client

All of like to think of ourselves as an ideal client for the products and services we use regularly, so why shouldn't we market to our prospects in the same way?

the ideal client

When I think of my ideal client I write down a few paragraphs describing this person. I give them a name, an age, a marital status, and go on to describe what magazines they read, where they shop, what their home is like, and so on. I finally ask why this person would need my product or service. This enables me to focus exclusively on how I can best serve the wants and needs of this person, and others like them.